September 1, 2004 - Manchester, England - Manchester Apollo

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General Information

Date: September 1, 2004
Location: Manchester, England
Venue: Manchester Apollo; Ardwick Green; Manchester, M12, England [ Venue website ]
Box Office Number: 0870-401-8000
Additional Info: Support Act: Black Country Bandits

Thanks to Stephen Tomlinson for the set list

Set List

• Sucker Train Blues
• Do It For The Kids
• Spectacle
• Headspace
• Crackerman
• Illegal i Song
• Fall To Pieces
• Big Machine
• Set Me Free
• Used To Love Her
• Slither
• Sex Type Thing
• It's So Easy
• Negative Creep

Reviews (28) [ send in your own review/pictures of the Manchester show ]

Thanks to Becky: Awesome show! Was on front row, had great view. Songs were all amazing, overall performance was fantastic, only hitch was a broken rib...but it was worth it! =D Matt is such a sound guy as well...he was really nice to me! Awesome gig! =D

Thanks to Jake: This was probably one of the defining moments in the history of rock and roll. I do believe that it is up there along with the greatest gigs of all time. I have been to hundreds of shows over the years and it was truly worth the trip over from (rainy) Belfast to witness something very special. Velvet Revolver have dragged rock music kicking and screaming from the doldrums of Nu-metal and mid-nineties depression into the 21st century and made it real again.

All those winging bastards who complained about the sound are full of crap...it is not a Steve Vai concert or an acoustic night it was a sweaty, balls out straight up rock show..I was at the front and it was the first show in years where I left feelin absolutely wrecked from head to toe which is the way it should be. Thanks for the low ticket prices also.

Well done guys and welcome back see ya in Dublin and London in Jan!

Thanks to Andrew Channon: Got there around 6pm there was a lot of people there loads of Slash fans, not one STP what I saw. Anyway got in at 7.20pm great concert venue. The first band BCP or whatever were alright to say the most. They were not on long about 40 mins. 45 mins or so later there he was the man himself Duff ripping into Sucker Train Blues who nearly everybody was singing to then Do It For The Kids which was just as good I can't remember the full setlist but they were awesome kinda reminded me of early GNR attitude wise. They ended with Negative Creep which I didn't understand why they did it when I bought the Slither cd but now I know why because it fuckin rocks live much better than Nirvana. Anyway got out side and security were blocking us off with railings to let the band out I hung around for an hour but my girlfriend started moaning so I shot off gutted to say the least but all in all they are a great band who deserve everything they get.

Thanks to Rhys Hale: Very quite possibly the greatest night of my entire life. No, seriously.. nice to see a band that feeds off the support of the crowd, I don't think the atmosphere in there could have been much more intense. I also managed to get my ticket signed by Matt afterwards and despite my friend getting punched in the face during a confrontation between Velvet Revolver's road crew and the douche t-shirt sellers outside, really was just incredible. Thank you Velvet Revolver, you've finally showed me what it means for a band to be rock n fuckin' roll!

Thanks to Nick: Still buzzing over 24 hours after the end of the gig. Not the absolute best concert I've ever been to (still Aerosmith @ Wembley for me) but very close and definitely the best since. From the opening bass riff to Sucker Train Blues, to the final flourish to Negative Creep, I was hooked - the album's damn good, but you never really know the measure of a genuine rock band until you've seen and heard them live and they surpassed all my (already high) expectations with interest.

My own highlight of the night was 'Fall to Pieces' which I thought was nothing short of awesome - Scott delivering his vocals with all the heartfelt intensity that only someone who's lived through everything he has could muster, matched with Slash's sublime play with his trademark Flame Top Les Paul - with the whole crowd in full-throated support; not bad for halfway through a set!The back-catalogue material was superb too - I doubt if STP ever played 'Sex Type Thing' better even in their heyday, while 'Used To Love Her' gave us all a great chance to laugh & sing along.

As I write this, I'm watching 'Top 10 G'n'R' on VH1, but I can't help thinking that what I saw last night offered possibilities even greater, if the resurgence of rock continues. Scott's frontman presence was massive - I never realised he was so good - and it looked like he and Slash had been together for years, rather than months. One of the great rock partnerships could be in its infancy - long may they reign together.

Overall - absolutely brilliant, can't wait for them to return.

Thanks to Kelvin: All I can say is what an awesome show. The whole day was awesome, caught the band turning up in their bus and coming out to the queing fans signing anything (especially Duff).

As soon as the band kicked off with Sucker Train Blues the place just blew up, with a huge crush at the front where I was stood. The whole band had great chemistry, all running from side to side of the stage. It was awesome to see Slash so close, who lived up to his guitar legend status. It was also great to see Scott rocking hard as I'm also a massive STP fan aswell as GNR. It's a shame there weren't enough STP fans as not many knew "Crackerman" and few knew "Sex Type Thing" even though the place erupted when played. The band played two encores, with Slash re-appearing with a top hat and cigerratte in his mouth. Talking of cigerattes Scott was smoking in between songs a lot. This show was just drenched with hard rock and even a cover of Nirvana's "Negative Creep" was introduced into the set list once again. The only spoiler of the night was a fool in the crowd throwing stuff at Scott (what is the point),although justice was served when Scott gave him a piece of his mind through his megaphone mid-song. Fucking awesome.

Thanks to Tom McHale: That was the best show I've ever seen. The guys looked so awesome and all Scotts feedback stuff was amazing. Thanks for the best show ever guys!!!

Thanks to TC: An awesome show!! I stood about 2 metres away from the stage, when the band came on at 21:05 the crowd went wild and continued for the next 80 minutes. The setlist was the same as the night before in Glasgow. All the band were well up for it but Slash stole the show with some unbelieveable solo's. When they played Used to love her and It's So Easy all the crowd sang every word, you couldn't even hear Scott. some nutter shouted out for Paradise City (no chance).

If you didn't get tickets - you missed out big time. Rock and fuckin roll

Thanks to Steve: First things first, does anyone know why Backyard Babies was not playing in Manchester??? The support (BCB's) were a bit naff (even though he was Robert Plant's son!).

Anyway...Velvet Revolver were excellent, from the moment they came onstage to the moment they left, highlights for me had to be 'Used To Love Her', 'Slither', 'Sex Type Thing' and Big Machine, but to be honest all the tunes sounded really good live. Let's hope they stay together long enough to tour the UK again, to finish I'd like to quote the banner behind the stage & sign off with these immortal words 'Rock 'n' Fuckin' Roll.. PS - Manchester crowds always rock.

Thanks to Paul J aka Terminator: This was the greatest show I've ever been to! The band were on top notch form and the crowd were loving every minute of it. Started at 9pm and finished at 10:30pm.
Slash playing the guitar behind his head, what a guy! Several different guitars, inclusing his Mocking Bird, and signature Gibson Les Paul. Matt and Duff both threw plectrums and drum sticks into the crowd, which were greatly accepted by eager fans. 8 tracks from 'Contraband', plus 2 GN'R numbers, one STP and a Nirvana one to finish it all off. The encore was fantastic, Duff comes out and just rips into It's So Easy. Fantastic.

Velvet Revolver rule!!!!! Come back to the UK guys!!

Thanks to Kerr: Where to begin? From Sucker Train Blues, through to a cover of Negative Creep by Nirvana, this was an absolutely superb performance by (in my opinion) the last of the great rock stars, led by one of the best frontmen ever. Scott's energy on stage is electrifying and the way he camps it up on stage is superb. A true entertainer. Slash's performance was fantastic, as expected, even soloing with the guitar behind his head at one point. It was also great to hear Sex Type Thing and Crackerman by STP and also Used to Love Her and It's So Easy by G'n'R. All in all, this was definitely the best gig I've ever been lucky enough to go to. One of the most enjoyable things about the whole experience was the fact that the guys were obviously enjoying every minute of it, just as much as the fans were.

P.S The Backyard Babies pulled out and a British band called The BCB's were the support act.

Thanks to Alice: The show was just amazing. What can I say? I love these guys! I queued for 7 and a half hours (since 11:30am) and I was right at the front of the queue. Round the side of the building Matt & Duff had appeared to meet some fans, but I was surrounded by really tall guys, so the most I had was a glimpse of Duff's hair!! We could hear the guys practising Spectacle & Headspace inside, by pressing our ears to the doors- amazing! It was good to be the first person to walk through those doors when they finally opened them.

Anyway, inside we had another 45 minute wait until 8pm. I was right at the front, slightly off-centre to the right (in front of Slash), which was great. The support band were pretty good, but c'mon, we were all here to see Velvet Revolver! I got my first glimpse of Duff when they were about halfway through their set: my friend next to me suddenly spotted him just to the side of the stage (thanks Lucy!) watching the band, soon everybody around us had spotted him and he left shortly after. The support band played a half hour set and Slash & co. came on soon after 9pm. I'd taken my digital camera with me and in the end I took 168 photos! Maybe a bit excessive... who cares? It was Velvet Revolver!! They kicked off with Sucker Train Blues, a brilliant intro by Duff, standing tall on the speakers and followed that with Do It For The Kids. It was great that they used digital wireless amplification, so they were wandering all over the stage, so I got some great photos. I can't remember the set list exactly, but next it was Headspace (my personal favourite), again with great backing vocals from Duff. Slash used a talkbox on Spectacle and Illegal I-Song, which was great to see and of course the huge dramatic ending on Set Me Free was just inevitable, but totally amazing. Slash looked gorgeous in his leather converse, leather trousers, and Jack Daniels t-shirt (which was quickly taken off!) and even better when he put his hat on! Scott had cut his hair and was wearing tight trousers and he was an amazing frontman. Duff looked as great as ever in tight trousers (his t-shirt was soon taken off also), Dave was great and Matt, well he's just a great guy. They didn't include Mr. Brownstone in their set, which lasted just short of an hour and a half, but they covered It's So Easy, Used To Lover Her, Negative Creep and a STP one I don't know. Other songs they played (other than already mentioned) were Slither and Fall To Pieces. A total of 10 songs altogether, I think...

It was an amazing gig, the best (and loudest) I've ever been to. 24 hours later I still can hear a ringing, but I am no way complaining! It was just great, and I hope they come back to England soon!

Thanks to Berger: The show was amazing and the support band was Black Country Bandits. Afterwords I managed to get Matt Sorum's sig he was so cool he went to everyone and even signed this guys guitar and I managed some how to catch David Kushner's pick. It was the best concert I've been too 10/10.

Thanks to Rossy: Velvet Revolver rule!! That show was awsome!!! The best gig I've been to in a long time!!! Scott just makes an ace front man!! And you can't forget Slash of course!! Extremely good show!!

Thanks to Mash: Hitting the stage with Duff on the riser in the middle thrumming out the rhythmic intro to Sucker Train Blues, the heads started flying and limbs started flailing as soon as the rest of the band hit in with the main riff. Whenever Slash moved, a massive cheer went up and I think he probably could have passed gas all night and still got a standing ovation. Highlights were Set Me Free and Fall To Pieces (which worked surprisingly well), Slither was amazing. Lowlights- finishing off with the old STP Negative Creep instead of a Velvet Revolver original or maybe leaving the stage after It's So Easy would have been better. The sound was sh*te but I didn't care. Jaw-droppingly intense rock. Miss `em at your peril.

Thanks to James Wood: This was the greatest night of my life, relatively unheard of band "The BCB's" opened the show and they were totally awesome, brilliant guitarist and the singer was good too. But onto the main event, Velvet Revolver came out to massive crowd cheers and then broke into "Sucker Train Blues", one of the best songs of the night. The crowd were totally up for the night. For the GNR fans they performed an excellent version of "Used to love her", this was excellent but when Duff did his bass intro for "It's So Easy" the crowd just went mental. Slash used the voice box with his guitar during the show and that was fucking awesome. To finish the night off they performed "Negative Creep" and they wiped the floor with Nirvana's version of it. I was sat of the balcony, best seats in the house and at the end of the show Matt came out to throw some signed drum sticks to the crowd, I didn't expect he would see me, but I waved like mad and he spotted me, threw a drum stick up and somehow I caught it, that just rounded off a perfect night and I will never forget it, I'm still totally buzzing from it, come back soon Velvet Revolver, you fucking rule!!!!

Thanks to Adam: Me and my brother turned up to the show 6 hours early on the off chance I could get my Les Paul Gibson signed by members of Velvet Revolver. After about 4 hours of waiting in the sun getting crushed against barriers a van pulled up and out crawled Slash, Duff, Dave, Matt....no Scott. Everybody went crazy. My right arm felt like it was going to drop off holding my heavy Les Paul for so long. First came Duff who looked cool and started signing albums. I shouted "Duff,sign my Gibson man!!" He acknowledged me with a smile and signed it. I quickly asked him how Glasgow was, he simply replied "fuckin awesome!"

Next came Matt who again was smiling his ass off. I got his sig on my guitar through help of a tour guy who passed it to him. Matt looked at the Gibson mark and said to me "you bought the real deal huh?" I just smiled. Matt went back in the building.

Next out strolled Slash. It seemed strange seeing him stood 4 feet in front of me. Unfortunately the crowd went insane and pushed forward.A girl got hurt and one of the barriers collapsed so Slash spent literally 15 seconds outside untill security whisked him back in. Although I didn't get my guitar signed by Slash it was the right thing to do. It was scary! Me and my bro (Marc) waited another 2 hours but with no luck on any more appearances. We put put the guitar in a secure spot and got a bite to eat....now all we had to do was enjoy the show!

The place was packed but everyone seemed cool in there. Support band did a good set. They played straight Rock n Roll which was good for me. Then Velvet Revolver took stage around 9.20 with Sucker Train Blues. The energy was amazing. They looked and sounded great. Thinking back the show seemes like a blur. Some lucky guy got Slashs plectrum and Matt's sticks. The best band I've ever seen in my life. Scott's vocals could have been a little louder perhaps. The best day and night of my life!

Thanks to Franky: Last nites gig was unbelievable. Good to see Slash and the boys rockin out, the highlight was Slither without doubt, the place erupted. Set Me Free which I previously wasn't to keen on was excellent. It's So Easy was great as well, with the line 'I see you standing there, you think your sooo cool, why don't you just.......fuck off! Everyone in the place flipped Scott the middle finger, great sight. All in all a great show, don't forget to come back next time!!

Thanks to James: Having never seen GnR or Stone Temple Pilots but being a big fan of both, I was really looking forward to this, and it totally rocked. From the "Rock & Fuckin Roll" banner behind them this was one hell of a show, all the band on top form. It's So Easy and Used To Love Her were the famous GnR songs, but the best stuff was really the Velvet Revolver Contraband stuff - Slither was amazing. They played for around an hour, which was long enough but it would have been great to have had a few more songs off Contraband (You Got No Right for example) to fill the set out a bit more! Brilliant gig, amazing solos, great drumming, simply one hell of a band.

Thanks to Spence: Rock N' Fuckin' Roll!! What a show, can't remember the set list as I was too busy rockin!! Hope they can sort out more dates at some point.

Thanks to Big Phil: Velvet Revolver were superb ! The best live band I have seen in some time. I can't wait to see them again! Just who is W.Axl Rose? The king is dead, long live the king! Scott Weiland was so full of energy, he dominated the stage!

The support band were the BCB's (Black Country Bandits) not the Backyard Babies as expected. Not bad though, check them out at www.thebcbs.com.

Thanks to Paul Taylor and Manchester Online: How strange that Velvet Revolver should recently have been voted "best international newcomers" in the Kerrang awards.

For, representing three-fifths of Guns N' Roses, Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum seem so firmly old school.

Beginning almost 20 years ago, these now-fortyish renegades snaffled everything that rock'n'roll excess had to offer yet survived.

The consequence of suddenly finding themselves flavour of the month again is that a Velvet Revolver audience has veterans from the eighties standing alongside moshing teenagers.

If The Darkness stand testament to the ironic revival of classic rock, then Velvet Revolver are the high-tar, full-fat, irony-free real deal.

This was a symphony of tortured guitar licks, tattooed torsos, sweat and testosterone.

Former Stone Temple Pilots front man Scott Weiland proved an effective substitute for Axl Rose, combining Marc Almond campness with early Jaggeresque mincing and a lot of megaphone play.

There was only a nod to the Guns N' Roses heritage, Weiland's mental misery being the chief topic of songs like Fall To Pieces.

And it was the lethal, serpentine charm of Slither which was the night's highlight, with guitarist Slash, podgier of midriff but still lean of riff, donning that top hat once more for old time's sake.

Thanks to Festa: Slash, genius! Waited 13 years to see the man in action, was not disappointed. The rest of the band were top quality also, although Scott's vocals were quiet in places. Never the less must see gig, if you were like me and unable to get hold of a ticket from the internet, I suggest get yourself down there and buy one outside. Rock n' Fuckin Roll!

Thanks to Ali Brabbs: The best night of my life!!!!! Everything was fuckin awesome, I thought the arena was brilliant. I was on the balcony and had a excellent and very close view of the band, when they finally came 2 hours since the doors opened. When the dudes backstage revealed Matt's drumkit, people roared. Sucker Train Blues was the highlight of my night, all the lights went well with the music and I loved the backdrop which said Rock & Fuckin Roll. I was expecting the band to look older but they were much younger than I thought. Thanks Velvet Revolver and come here again!!!

Thanks to Matt Roberts: Awesome, expectations were high, but delivered with huge success. It was obvious Sucker Train Blues would open and hearing it live was nothing short of amazing. Slash had a cool Jack Daniels (what else?) t-shirt on, but lost that for the encores, and came back on with his top-hat (oh yeah!)

Scott was getting well into it, climbing the stacks with his megaphone, Slash and Duff back to back on the speaker monitors was an awesome sight, Slash' solos' were top notch all night, crowd loved it. £20+ for a t-shirt was far too excessive though.

Thanks to Velvet Revolver-Fan: The gig was very good, it makes a change to see a real rock band, instead of 4-5 guys just stood there playing through their songs, you had 5 guys who all seriously knew how to rock. Seeing Slash was the first time I had been star-struck, until I bumped into Robert Plant near the bar! The atmosphere was great although I think it took a bit to get going after the initial opening, but the two encores were great and probably pisses Scott off, but the highlight of the night was It's So Easy, people went crazy for that....only complaint was the sound levels were mixed like sh*t so if you are a big bass fan then you'd have been in heaven, very hard to hear the vocals though.

Looking forward to seeing them again.

Thanks to Gaz Poole: Velvet Revolver are and were fucking awesome!!!! Ain't it funnny!!! Yeahh!!

Thanks to Ritchie: What a brilliant night, the que was massive and a few people were hangin about at one of the busses, from where Matt would appear from and sign a few autographs (my 2 mates got his signature). Anyways the doors opened about 15 minutes late, but everyone soon piled in without complaint, Backyard Babies (whom I have never heard of) went on stage about 7:45 and played an outstanding show. Velvet Revolver came out on stage about 9:20 as the crowd errupted with the opening of Sucker Train Blues, I was on the balcony and the view was tremendous (wish I took a cam) the guitar solo's from Slash were awesome and a nice bass solo from Duff and the crowd were chanting Duff Duff Duff.. it was superb. Scott's singin was maybe a bit 2 low but made up for it with some nice dance moves :P and it was also nice to see Slash come out after the 1st encore (I think) with his legendry hat.. the show ended about 10:55 after a brilliant nite thanks guys, already can't wait and hope they will come back. And a few lucky people will be treasuring drum sticks from Matt and a t-shit from Slash.